New eye drop may allow some to ditch reading glasses
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NEW YORK • An eye drop that improves close-range vision could make misplaced reading glasses less of an inconvenience for many who suffer from age-related deficits in near vision.
Vuity, which became available by prescription this month in the United States, is a once-a-day treatment that can help users see up close without affecting their long-range vision.
"For anybody who doesn't want to fiddle with reading glasses, this might be a really helpful alternative," said Dr Scott MacRae, an ophthalmologist at the University of Rochester's Centre for Visual Science. He was not involved in the clinical trials for the drug, which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in late October.
About 128 million Americans have age-related deficits in near vision. Nearly 90 per cent of US adults older than 45 have problems with close-range vision, a condition known as presbyopia that typically worsens over time.
To focus on close objects, the eye's lens must change shape, yet it becomes less flexible as people age, making this process difficult.
Typically, eye doctors recommend that people with presbyopia wear over-the-counter or prescription reading glasses when they need to see up close, but Vuity may also be an option for them, said Dr George Waring IV, an ophthalmologist and medical director of the Waring Vision Institute in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, who led Vuity's clinical trials for the pharmaceutical company Allergan.
Dr MacRae said: "That is the good part about this - the drops don't really affect distance vision under normal daylight conditions."
He also noted that Vuity will work best for people who have only mild to moderate presbyopia, which probably means people between the ages of 45 and 55.
Vuity is not typically covered by health or vision insurance, and Dr Waring said it might cost around US$80 (S$109) per 30-day supply.
Although the clinical trials did not report any serious side effects, 14.9 per cent of subjects who took Vuity reported mild headaches, compared with 7 per cent of subjects who took placebo drops.
A study of 7,890 people with presbyopia by researchers from the Singapore Eye Research Institute, published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 2016, found that 33.9 per cent in the Republic did not get the condition rectified.
Eye drops have been used at the Singapore National Eye Centre to treat another eye condition - myopia - in the Republic since the 1990s.
NYTIMES
What is presbyopia?
• Presbyopia is a condition that affects people's ability to see objects that are close to them. It is caused by stiffness in the lenses of the eyes.
• The condition affects 85 per cent of people 40 years or older, and gets worse over time.
• Vuity is the first medication to be approved for treatment of presbyopia. The eye drop temporarily makes the recipient's pupils smaller, thereby enabling them to focus on closer objects.
• Vuity is billed as a once-a-day eye drop for the treatment of presbyopia. The price of Vuity is around US$80 (S$109) for a month's supply.
